Admittedly, I have done no formal study related to the issue of a national transport system. Yet I attempt humbly to suggest Arriva, to solve transport delays through the establishment of other centres for the Arriva bus services.

We have, until now, been used to one central station on either island (Malta and Gozo). The present system is offering a malaise we had never experienced before, as we travel through an amazing number of localities simply to get to our objective. The present system works better for the tourist than it does for the citizen.

May I then suggest, one other general terminus in the North, catering for the region of the Northern traffic area, say anywhere in Rabat and another one, say Burmarrad or Mosta and another in the southern region, say around Kirkop. The idea would be for those general termini to have access to any other general termini, on a hop-on hop-off frequent service. Only by doing so can we inspire our people to make regular use of public buses. 

Each general terminal can then service the local routes with ease, heading to any locality, in its region. This proposed system might just cut the waiting times by a good chunk. One other point is to have a Mater Dei/University of Malta and Karin Grech Hospital service, serviced from each general terminal on a frequent basis, say every five minutes, between 7.20am and 9.00pm (that includes study times at the University of Malta and visitation times at the said hospitals.)

Let us place the Arriva service, at the service of the citizen first. Let Arriva also have special routes if needed, running on the national grid, which tourists would be comfortable with. Those could cater for the long journeys, running along rural areas and seaside resorts, linking St Julian’s, Buġibba, Mellieħa, Marsascala, Marsaxlokk, Birżebbuġa; and not to the detriment of people who have to rush in the early hours for school and work, and rush back to family life, after that.

We do need to encourage people to give up using their private cars and help families economise through using public transport. We must make better use of our limited parking spaces, and should all work towards making our national public transport reform a success. A big cheers to all concerned.

■ Joseph Zammit

Tarxien